ebay fabricated valve covers leaking....

Street car, I used a GZ Motorsports pump

 

That's a belt driven pump I assume. Have you seen anyone using any kind of factory electric pump with success?

 

The most important thing to sealing these valve covers is the baffles/pcv, then the gaskets. I use the FelPro blue, with the steel core to prevent overtightening.

 

Yes it is a belt driven pump. I did a lot of research on using an electric vacuum pump and even had one that some people had used in their applications and tested it and the best it would pull is about 4"s of vacuum. Oil mist seems to kill them even using a catch can inline.

Like Earl says use the Fel Pro with the wire ring in it and baffling is a must. Try to put the baffle in so that it is not directly above rocker arms. I thought at one time perhaps the valve cover bolts might be too long and bottoming out and discovered that they were right at the limit for depth

I used these baffles http://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-440332/overview/

 

That sure is one pretty motor!

 

Granted.. the cheaper units have thinner rails and could potentially have a few weld pinholes.. but there's certainly nothing wrong with the design in itself and I/many of my friends have run/still run fabbed covers without issue.

All that's needed is proper venting/vacuum and similar premium gaskets mentioned above.

And I agree about the rear seal.. and eventually the valve seals/timing cover/manifold end/oil pan rail too.. starting to leak badly on a sealed engine.

Also keep in mind that if you have blowby pressure at idle like that?.. imagine what it will be when the motor is under load as the engine try's to move the car. Revving it under no load won't even come close to giving you an idea of what it will do and you'll be blowing oil from every place and all over with an engine that make positive pressure at idle.

And speaking from personal experience with header evac units.. don't even consider trying one on an engine with fair amounts of blowby and street mufflers. Because it just won't keep up with demand and a PCV setup will be much better overall. Only downside to running a PVC setup on an engine with blowby is the need to use an intake/valve cleaner once in a while.

 

Yellow,
Those are for push in type breathers. I was hoping to install some bulkhead fittings and use braided line and AN fittings for the evac system. Do you really trust the push in breathers? Are breathers available that are thread in?

 

Not directed at anyone in particular, just a generic statement.

None of these evac systems are meant as a remedy for a worn out or broken engine. They are a performance modification to create a vacuum in the crankcase, something the PCV system will not, and wasn't intended to, do. I would look into repairing any excessive blowby first, before spending any money on the "go-fast" or trick stuff.

 

John, Yes they are for a push in type of cap I used a Mr.Gasket cap that came from the header evac system that I had and found a grommet that fit id and od correctly.

You might be more interested in this style, I am sure there are more out there that will fit your need though

http://www.gzmotorsports.com/VCB100-breather.html

 

Jack, this is a fresh engine with only 10 minutes run time or so. The rings probably aren't seated yet.

 

Yellow, looks like the baffle is included on those.

 

Yes baffling is a part of this setup, if I were to change my setup this is what I would go with.

You can get a matching one for other valve cover that allows you to unscrew cap and put oil in. I think you can get this one that way also.

How do plan on evacuating the pressure? pcv valve?

Very lengthy discussions on sbftech site about this subject

 

Yeah 27 pages lengthy! I've been reading on there. I think I'm leaning towards header evac to start with to save some money.

 

I have had a header evac set-up on my Maverick since I built it. It was the first time I ever used one. I will never build another performance engine without one. I love it.

 

I believe the main reason the header evac did not work for me was restrictions in the exhaust and mufflers used. Lots of people have used them with good success.

Get the good Napa valves from the get go though